


Stormseeker: Dead Vengeance

by Serriya (Keolah)



Series: Stormseeker Saga: Alternate Timelines [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Urban Dead
Genre: Amnesia, F/M, POV First Person, Present Tense, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-11
Updated: 2014-06-11
Packaged: 2018-02-04 05:57:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1767991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keolah/pseuds/Serriya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lexen seeks the truth of what happened to his missing wife, Cassie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stormseeker: Dead Vengeance

I pore over my map, scowling faintly at the locations I've marked to scout out. Could this information be correct? The Fortress had not been willing to give up their secrets so readily, but I'd done some sneaking around and broke into places they hadn't wanted me to be.

I don't know if Cassie is still alive, or what sort of mental state she might be in if so, but I owe it to her to find out, regardless. My beloved Cassiopeia Black, lured in by the lies of the Fortress. But where is she now? Dragged off for cruel experiments in the vain hope of finding a cure for the zombie plague, I suspect. I can't let them do that to her.

For weeks I exacted vengeance upon the Fortress in a blind rage, killing them again and again. I never breathed Cassie's name to them. I did not want them to find out who I really was: The wrathful husband of the brilliant woman they had wronged. If, by some remote chance she were still alive and well somewhere, I did not want my actions to bring undue consequences down upon her. I had my doubts, and so I collected information.

"JQ," I say, waving over my brother Knight and gesturing at my desk. "What did you find out about this location underneath Roachtown?"

JQ chuckles. "More than they would have wanted us to know, LC, that's for certain. The Fortress keep paperwork of everything, even their most closely guarded secrets." 

"One has to wonder where they keep finding enough paper for it all," I mutter.

"This location," JQ says, jabbing a finger at the map, "has all the earmarks of a secret research facility. They've sent in resources, but there's no note of who is stationed there."

"Cassie's last known location was in Kempsterbank," I say. "How would she have gotten to Roachtown unseen? That's straight across the no-man's-land of Ridleybank."

"A clever survivor can evade the zombies and avoid detection," JQ says. "By all indications, not only is Cassie a more than clever survivor, but there's no record of her ever having died."

I nod at that. "I can believe that." I'd always admired Cassie's cunning and intelligence. Even though the memories of my previous life are still sketchy, some things are quite clear.

I stare at the spot on the map some more, hidden in a sub-basement underneath an otherwise unremarkable building. Is this the Fortress' tomb of horrors? I must steel myself in preparation for what terrible things I might find there, what gruesome experiments they have been conducting. Do they keep brain-rotten zombies locked in cages down there, regularly shocking them with electricity to keep them in line? Do they pump cocktails of drugs through their own people just to see what happens?

"You want me to scout out the building, LC?" JQ asks.

I shake my head and climb to my feet, reaching for my pack. "No. It's too dangerous. I must do this myself."

"Very well," JQ says, nodding. "Good luck."

I groan softly. "My luck is never good."

* * *

I don't even pause to look back as I leave Shackleville behind. There's nothing for me here but vengeance. There are more important causes than blind vengeance, however. Now, I go to seek knowledge.

As I approach the no-man's-land in the heart of Malton, I drop down to the streets and keep alert for zombies. The ruined buildings of Ridleybank won't hold my feet when attempting to free-run across the rooftops, so I need to take my chances on the ground. My tattered black robes are so stained with blood by this point that I'm not much better than a zombie myself.

To my memory, I've never bothered to kill a zombie. What's the point, when they can just stand up again as if nothing happened? They never stay down for long. And I certainly don't care to waste my ammunition on getting through Ridleybank now.

Surprisingly, the streets of Ridleybank are nearly deserted. I spot a couple zombies here and there and keep my distance. I don't think they even noticed me. I arrive in Roachtown unmolested by any Two-Headed Sex Beasts.

It doesn't take much looking to find the building in question. It's a large office building, towering up a number of stories. Pistol in hand, I creep inside, keeping a careful eye out for any signs of movement. The power is off, and the only light is streaming in from the exterior windows. Better to keep a low profile that way, I suppose. The place appears to be deserted, however.

It takes me quite a bit of searching to figure out how to get down into the sub-basement. All the stairs down have been heavily barricaded, with tables and vending machines piled up against them. This would probably have attracted more attention if absolutely everything in Malton weren't paranoidly overly barricaded these days. I can't really blame them for being paranoid, I suppose, but do they really think it will help?

Finally, I come across one side entrance that I could manage to climb into without having to remove the barricades and potentially attract unwanted attention if anyone noticed my activities. It's a tight squeeze, but I work my way inside past the barricade and carefully make my way down the stairs. My own paranoia rises in this situation. Down here, there's no quick retreat if things go sour. I may be left to relying on JQ to revive me, or worse, become trapped here myself, caught up in yet another of their experiments. Still... for Cassie, it's worth the risk.

Down in the basement, the humming of a generator rumbles through the building, and I blink as I open a door into a lit hallway. They must have it set up so that the power doesn't go to the upper floors. There are no sounds of human movement, no footsteps or doors opening and closing, no low sound of voices speaking to one another. This place might as well be as deserted as the rest of the building.

I start quietly checking the doors along the hallway. Storage closets filled with supplies, deserted rooms whose original purpose has long since been forgotten, and then... I open the door to a large, brightly lit room. Beakers and tubes containing different colored fluids line tabletops, and what appears to be a giant cauldron of all things sits in the center of the room. Seeing no one else in the area, I approach to take a closer look out of curiosity.

"What are you doing here?" a woman's voice demands.

I spin around to come face-to-face with a woman in black robes, pointing a wand at me, a cloud of dark hair around a very familiar face. I freeze where I am, stunned speechless.

"I recognize that mask," she says. "You're one of the Philosophe Knights. I've seen your lot before. I'll have you know this is a place of learning, and I will not allow you to cause harm here or disrupt our research. So do put that gun away."

I finally manage to open my mouth, and whisper her name. "Cassie..."

"You know who I am, do you?" Cassie says. "So who are you beneath that mask?"

My hands are trembling. I set the gun aside on a nearby table so that I don't wind up dropping it from numb fingers. Across the room, Cassie slowly lowers her wand, but doesn't put it away yet.

"Cassie," I repeat, louder and more firmly. "By the Void, Cassie, I didn't think you were even still alive. I feared for the worst for you."

"Why wouldn't I be..." Cassie begins, then trails off and stares at me. "Lexen?"

Throwing caution to the wind, I close the distance between us and clasp my arms around her in a tight embrace. She's stunned and stiff for a moment, then after her momentary surprise wears off, she wraps her arms around my back, still clenching her wand in one hand. After several moments, she pulls away, and tucks her wand into its holster.

"Why did you come here?" Cassie asks. "If you thought I was dead, you couldn't have come here looking for me."

"I'd hoped, at any rate," I say. "If nothing else, I wanted to find out what happened to you. I feared what those Fortress cultists might have done to you."

Cassie scowls at me. "They never did anything to me. Why would you think they had?"

"You'd disappeared without a trace, and I'd heard some horrible things about them," I reply. My shoulders slump not only in relief, but at misplaced rage draining away.

"Merlin's beard," Cassie mutters, putting her face in her palm. "How many of them did you murder, Lexen?"

I think for a moment, then admit, "I'm not sure. Is it really murder if they get revived a few hours later, anyway?"

"It's still murder," Cassie replies flatly. "Although I must say that I'm not the least bit surprised at who you've chosen to associate with." She stares at me thoughtfully. "How much do you remember?"

"Not much," I say. "I remember how incredible you are. I remember how much I love you. I remember putting on this mask to avenge your death..."

Cassie looks at me in confusion. "But... I haven't died." She groans softly. "Are you remembering bits and pieces of other timelines and mistaking them for what happened here in this one?"

"I... what?" I say, raising an eyebrow. "Other timelines? What are you talking about?"

Cassie sighs and mutters, "Bloody hell. Pardon my English, although you're far more of a pottymouth than I. Lexen, you've forgotten that you're a Time Mage, haven't you."

I don't even know what to say to that. I'd seen her pointing that wand at me and subconsciously accepted this as normal, but it had not consciously occurred to me that magic might be real.

"Perhaps it wouldn't have been obvious in a place like Malton," Cassie says. "Normally, when you die, you go back in time to the morning of that day as if you hadn't died. But here, you don't truly die if you die. You just become a zombie and can be revived again thereafter. Your ability probably doesn't even properly trigger here at all."

"I can do magic?" I say dumbly.

Cassie snorts softly. "Yes, you can. Although without a wand and especially without memory of how to perform any spells, your ability to do so will be severely limited. You might as well stick to that Muggle gun of yours."

"Can you teach me?" I ask.

"So you can use it to go murder people better?" Cassie retorts. "Absolutely not. Besides, it's all in your head. Unlock it yourself. I have work to do here."

"What exactly are you doing here?" I wonder, glancing around the room again.

"Research," Cassie says. "I'm trying to analyze how the virus NecroTech created actually works, and how it might be cured without simply killing everyone in Malton. This is a more complicated matter than it may seem at first glance."

"Can I help?" I ask.

"You are welcome to bring me any interesting samples you come across," Cassie says. "You would not be happy for long hiding away in a basement. Sooner or later, you'd go stir crazy and wind up going on a murder spree."

I smirk. "It is a little disconcerting that you seem to know me better than I know myself."

Cassie shakes her head slowly. "You have to find yourself, Lexen. I cannot help you with that."

"It seems I have a lot to figure out," I say.

"And you've chosen your path," she says. "I do not know whether shooting at people in an attempt to educate them will really help Malton, but I will neither help nor hinder you in that endeavor. I hope that it brings you what you seek. Now, if you would please, I would appreciate being left to my research. There is much work to be done. Natalie should be here soon, and I would prefer that she not find you here when she arrives."

"Very well," I say, sighing as I grab my gun and turn for the door reluctantly. I pause on the way out and say quietly without turning around, "I'm sorry, Cassie."

"So am I," Cassie murmurs. "But we must each bear the guilt for our own actions."

I head out of the building, deep in thought, staring back at it for several long minutes once out on the street. This was not how I might have expected this to go at all. It seems that I was mistaken about a great many things. I have a lot to think about, and a long road ahead of me, I think.


End file.
